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People do strange things when bombs fall on their heads. But go shopping?

Yet this is exactly what some people are prone to do when living under the threat of terrorism, according to a new study. More specifically, those materialistic individuals who place a high value on consumption, when faced with terrorism, are more likely to cope by compulsively purchasing goods, according to Ayalla Ruvio, an assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University.

Ruvio examined the behavior of residents of Sderot, the southern Israeli town that has faced years of sporadic bombardment from Palestinian rockets fired from neighboring Hamas-controlled Gaza. "When faced with a mortal threat such as a terrorist attack, highly materialistic individuals report higher levels of post-traumatic stress, compulsive consumption, and impulsive buying than their less materialistic counterparts," the study concludes.

Stressed-out people do extreme things, as anyone who has been in a supermarket as a hurricane or blizzard approaches can attest. During wartime, hoarding and black marketeering are common. But Ruvio, who is from Israel ("I can tell you that terror attacks are very stressful"), notes that materialistic people often turn toward objects as a way to cope with stress and uncertainty. "In the same manner that materialistic people think that they can be happier if they will buy things, they believe that they can relieve stress in the same manner," she told me. "Except that under stressful situations, buying behaviors tend to get out of control and become maladaptive buying behaviors."

This is the first study to link materialism, existential insecurity (as in living in fear of a rocket landing on your head), and stress. Ruvio also tried to discover the mechanism behind this behavior by surveying the behavior of Americans after 9/11. Not surprisingly, she found that compulsive and impulsive shopping is a function of poor self-esteem. Ruvio doesn't believe that these behaviors only occur with terrorism. "I think that stressful events like natural disasters, car accidents, losing your job or even getting married, might lead to the same results."

Marketers already exploit this. stress-inducing commercials that urge consumers to "buy now" to take advantage of a "limited time offer", create a kind of traumatic stress. "Retailing managers could capitalize on this tendency for impulsive coping by placing more expensive and higher margin products in high traffic areas and promote these items using messages of assurance and security (e.g., 'protect yourself and your family by investing in our new security system')," the study notes.

Ruvio's advice for consumers? "Don't shop when you are under stress. If someone you know has experienced traumatic or acute stress, watch their consumption behavior. See if they need help."